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There are plenty of case-studies about strategy and functional areas of
companies in their local markets, but not as many of them about the
internationalization process. Whenever we found some, especially those
developed by prestigious business schools, we see that most of them focus on
the internationalization process and circumstances of Multinational companies,
with famous brands, because they are widely known and there is plenty of public
information about them. Nevertheless, globalization is a phenomenon that
affects all kind of companies, including the Small and Middle size Enterprises
(SME) worldwide.
How should these companies face the new problems and challenges when
they usually have fewer resources, mainly human resources, but also financing
and information? What lessons can they learn of similar companies which had
already gone through this process? What do they need to adapt to become
global, or at least regional, players?
This case-study pretends to become a tool for faculties who would like to
address these issues with their students, to help them think about these
problems, to analyze them in detail, and to develop strategies to try to solve
them.
To achieve this goal, we have tried to cover the different areas involved, from
logistics, to accounts receivable risk management, from lack of specialized
Human resources, to brand promotion, including the debate of private label
versus own label, and about product adaptation versus standardization. Each of
the topics covered, present a quite usual situation for these types of companies,
and ask for several alternatives to solve them.
The name of the company and the products' brands have been changed, as
well as some of the characters of our case-study, although it could be one of
many, as most of these small family companies and some cooperatives look
pretty much alike. Nevertheless, no critic is intended, and the case-study is for
academic use only. Furthermore, no specific solution is given, as it may vary
according to the participant's inputs and background or the faculty approach to
these topics.